Clown Show
... what are the background circumstances of the Philip Guston Now art exhibit at London’s Tate Modern, which was originally due to open in June 2020, but was delayed because of the Ku Klux Klan imagery in Guston's painting
Philip Guston Exhibit Delay
The Philip Guston retrospective titled "Philip Guston Now," originally scheduled to open in June 2020 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., was delayed due to concerns over the artist's depictions of Ku Klux Klan members, particularly in a series of works featuring cartoonish, hooded figures[2]. The decision to postpone the exhibition was made by four collaborating institutions—the National Gallery of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Tate Modern in London—after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 sparked global racial justice protests[3]. The museums stated they needed to ensure the powerful message of social and racial justice at the heart of Guston’s work could be more clearly interpreted in the current political climate[3][8].
The delay was controversial, with critics, including the exhibition’s own curator Mark Godfrey, accusing the museums of patronizing their audiences and engaging in self-censorship by assuming viewers could not understand the nuanced anti-racist intent behind Guston’s imagery[5][6]. Godfrey described the decision as "patronizing" and was later suspended from Tate Modern before leaving the institution voluntarily. The postponement also followed an earlier delay due to the pandemic, which had initially pushed the opening from June 2020 to the following year[3][9].
The extra time allowed curators to conduct additional research, including traveling to Mexico to study Guston’s mural "The Struggle Against Terrorism" (1934–35), which illustrated resistance to persecution and violence across history, including the rise of the Ku Klux Klan[4]. This research informed the exhibition’s restructured narrative, which now begins by establishing Guston’s lifelong commitment to confronting racial injustice, including his early work from age 17 that depicted Klansmen[4]. The Tate Modern exhibition, which opened in October 2023 and ran until February 24, 2024, addressed the Klan imagery in a dedicated section titled "Hoods," framing it as an exploration of masked ideologies and the perpetrators of racist violence[4].
The exhibition ultimately opened with a revised, more contextualized approach, incorporating thematic and chronological groupings, new works, and additional voices to help audiences understand Guston’s complex engagement with evil and racism[4][7]. Tate director Maria Balshaw stated the delay allowed for deeper research and a more thoughtful presentation of the artist’s intentions[4].
... as an incidental but related matter what can we learn about the meaning of "nuanced" and its connotations in this context
In the context of the Philip Guston Now exhibition, "nuanced" refers to the complex, layered, and often ambiguous nature of Guston’s work—particularly his use of Ku Klux Klan imagery—not as a straightforward political statement, but as a deeply personal and morally reflective exploration of complicity, evil, and artistic responsibility. The term underscores that his paintings are not merely provocative or offensive, but intentionally layered with meaning, requiring viewers to engage critically rather than react impulsively.
Guston’s hooded figures are nuanced because they function simultaneously as:
- Self-portraits, revealing his inner conflict as an artist detached from social struggles.
- Critiques of systemic racism and violence, especially white complicity.
- Cartoonish symbols, using irony and absurdity to confront uncomfortable truths.
The decision to delay the exhibition reflected a desire to ensure audiences could grasp this nuance—that the imagery was not celebratory but a moral reckoning. Critics of the delay argued that the public was capable of understanding such nuance, and that postponement risked implying the work was too dangerous or simplistic to be seen without extensive framing.
Thus, "nuanced" in this context emphasizes interpretive depth, moral complexity, and the necessity of context in engaging with challenging art.
... the exhibit was open to the public suggest how to explain to a 5-year-old why there are Ku Klux Klan figures in the paintings
To explain the KKK figures in Philip Guston’s paintings to a 5-year-old, you might say:
"Philip Guston painted those hooded figures not because he liked them, but because he wanted to show that sometimes people do bad things, and even good people can be part of the problem without realizing it. He painted them in a silly, cartoon way—like clowns—to help us see how foolish and wrong hate is. He even painted himself wearing the hood to say, 'I need to look at my own actions and make sure I’m being kind and fair to everyone.'"
The paintings are like a story about being brave enough to admit when we’re part of the problem—and choosing to do better.
... a very good explanation for a 5-year-old, and to the matter of semantics that the Ku Klux Klan hood looks like a dunce cap -has anyone else mentioned it
While no direct source explicitly states that Philip Guston compared the KKK hood to a dunce cap, the idea aligns with how he portrayed the figures—as clownish, foolish, and absurd—to critique racism and complicity. His hooded characters are often shown in ridiculous situations: smoking cigars, driving around in junky cars, or acting like bumbling fools. This cartoonish style reduces the Klan’s menacing image to something ludicrous and morally bankrupt, much like a dunce cap marks someone as foolish or punished.
Art critics and curators have noted that Guston used visual satire to expose evil not as something grand, but as something banal, everyday, and embarrassingly human. In this sense, seeing the KKK hood as resembling a dunce cap—a symbol of shame and stupidity—fits perfectly with Guston’s intent: to show racism as both morally wrong and deeply silly, not powerful or heroic.
So while the exact comparison isn’t documented in the sources, it’s a meaningful and insightful interpretation that resonates with the spirit of his work.
Citations:
1. New York Times. (2020, September 25). *Philip Guston exhibition delayed amid criticism*. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/25/arts/design/philip-guston-exhibition-delayed-criticism.html
2. The Conversation. (2023, April 26). *Philip Guston: Controversial delayed Tate show asks, "What would it be like to be evil?"* https://theconversation.com/philip-guston-controversial-delayed-tate-show-asks-what-would-it-be-like-to-be-evil-215206
3. The Washington Post. (2020, September 25). *National Gallery postpones major Philip Guston show*. https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/national-gallery-postpones-major-philip-guston-show/2020/09/25/d486fb04-ff54-11ea-8d05-9beaaa91c71f_story.html
4. The Art Newspaper. (2023, October 3). *Postponed Philip Guston survey finally opens at Tate Modern*. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/10/03/postponed-philip-guston-survey-finally-opens-at-tate-modern
5. The Art Newspaper. (2020, September 25). *Critics, scholars, and even museums' own curator condemn decision to postpone Philip Guston show over Ku Klux Klan imagery*. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2020/09/25/critics-scholarsand-even-museums-own-curatorcondemn-decision-to-postpone-philip-guston-show-over-ku-klux-klan-imagery
6. Artnet News. (2023, April 26). *Philip Guston exhibition*. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/philip-guston-exhibition-2403268
7. Museum of Fine Arts Boston. (2022). *Philip Guston Now: First Retrospective of Influential Artist's Work in Nearly 20 Years*. https://www.mfa.org/press-release/philip-guston-now
8. The Art Newspaper. (2022, April 26). *Controversially postponed Philip Guston shows finally get going*. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/04/26/controversially-postponed-philip-guston-shows-finally-get-going
9. New York Times. (2020, October 28). *Philip Guston retrospective date*. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/28/arts/design/philip-guston-retrospective-date.html
10. Artnet News. (2022, March 24). *Postponed Philip Guston show will now open in 2022, museums say*. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/postponed-philip-guston-show-will-now-open-2022-museums-say-1919119